long time no post

hello faithful blog readers! i have been so busy the last couple weeks, therefore no time to post. between getting ready for christmas, planning gia's first brithday party here in normal, preparing for our trip to texas, continuing to work on our house, not to mention a wedding and being sick with tonsillitis again, we literally have had barely a moment's rest.

we fly out tomorrow morning for houston so i am not planning on posting again until after the new year. hope you all have a wonderful christmas - i know i look forward to visiting with our family and remembering the amazing gift God gave us by sending his Son, Jesus.

celebrate the new year in style - whether at home in jammies or with a night on the town! expect our christmas greeting and year-in-review letters after our trip. they didn't make the cut for this month's to-do list.

here is a super cute pic of gia at her party on saturday! (can you believe she will be one year old tomorrow!)

elf yourself

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1216339489

This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

a plug for a friend

where i would be tomorrow night if lived near/in chicago:

my super talented friend grant donated two of her paintings for her first ever gallery hangings. there is a suggested entrance fee of $10, but it all goes to charity so any amount will be accepted.

hello darkness, my old friend

people talking without speaking
(an adaptation of Maksymovych's KISS)

ta da!

(no explanation needed)

bed head

after a two hour nap, luca decided to go punk.

luca's first concert. . . kinda

okay, how adorable is it when little kids get up to sing at church? since we don't attend a traditional church with a large children's ministry, this is not an opportunity to expect to give my little ones. well, today at my mom's group (mom2mom) the 2-5 year olds in lamb2lamb gave me an early christmas gift. they practiced all fall to sing us "happy birthday jesus" for our last gathering of 2007. here's a video documenting luca not so much singing but rather taking it all in (along with all of the other 2 year olds i think). oh well, it was so fun and luca has been talking about it all day - he actually has been singing the song too since we got home. there was a super committed boy who sang loud and passionately throughout. i think i'll add a second video of his big finish.

one more luca highlight

jesse reminded me of this additional anecdote.

• when i went to get luca after his nap yesterday, he was very concerned he could not find his paci. i located it under his blanket and left it at that. when jesse got home from work, however, i learned the rest of the story. luca told his papi that the grinch stole his paci during naptime. that morning, we had been playing with his stuffed grinch doll. when luca commented he looked "scary," i told him he was not "scary" but "unkind." i paraphrased the story and told him the grinch wanted to take away christmas, but we needed to give him big hugs to make feel loved. this was our dramatic play of the day, hiding from the grinch and then running over and giving him hugs to save christmas. well, i guess it backfired a bit. (luca has been adopting so many new fears.) so, i reminded him about the hugs and told him that the grinch was kind now and would not steal his paci. this made sense to luca, but we'll see how nap today goes.

luca highlights

• i was laying down before jesse came home and luca wanted me to get up. i told him i needed to rest and he ran and brought me back a toy. i told him i couldn't play at the moment, but he interrupted, "no, mama. for sleeping." then he sang me his dragon song. - part of his routine before bed is to snuggle with his toys/animals and for us to sing him songs. he was being my little caretaker.

• this weekend marked luca's first self-initiated declaration of, "my love you, mama." while running up and hugging my legs. the next day, i had my arms out for a hug and he ran up and said, "my love you too." i cried.

• while pulling out christmas decorations last night, we found a rudolph doll that no longer plays music, due to excessive banging by a 10 month old pico monster. both of our children are completely taken with this thing. luca brought him to bed last night and around the house all day. gia found him this morning and sat and pet his face for a few minutes. funny how one little toy can capture such attention.

• when putting candy canes on the tree last night, i was patiently letting luca put them wherever he wanted. i fought the designer in me and let him concentrate on one small area. i did think i could "convince" him to spread them out, by telling him that the other branches might be lonely without any candy canes. luca looked up at me and said, "no, these candy canes be lonely. they need be together." then he put two right on the same branch. my tree never looked better.

• while folding laundry, luca ran up and stuck his fingers in my face. i looked up and he exclaimed, "my hands have poopie on them!" and sure enough they did. while trying to undress himself (we have fully entered the dressing and undressing stage), he pulled down his diaper on accident and was very disturbed to find himself in a mess.

• i came across luca's doll david this afternoon (i though i blogged about him in the past but cannot find any reference to him now. so quick expanation, david has been a recent fave of the boy. he sleeps with him, he feeds him cheerios - and they get stuck in his mouth - he basically takes care of him and brings him around the house. we bought it for him when gia was born so he would have a baby like me.) so as i was saying, i found david in the hallway and told luca i would put him in his bed. luca shouted, "not in bed!" i assumed he wanted to play with him, so i turned around and held him out. luca did not want him, so i turned back around to walk in his room. he then said, "no, rudolph in my bed." confused i asked, "david and rudolph can't be in bed together? they'll keep each other company. they'll snuggle until you go to bed tonight." luca's answer, "david be mad. " my understanding is that luca thought david would be jeolous so we couldn't let him know he had been replaced. when i asked where we should put david, luca whispered, "gia's room."

• luca has become a picky eater and it can be frustrating. but it is kinda funny when he won't even touch the mini ravioli that i bought especially for him (which gia sucks down like a vacuum) but wants three bowls of salad.

haircuts by irene

jesse and luca got trimmed up this afternoon by our favorite stylist irene. she has been cutting my hair for almost 5 years and jesse's for the last 4. above are today's before and after shots. the little man looks so handsome. (note luca's first ever black eye - the left one- in the first pic. we don't know how it happened, he just woke up saturday morning with it. talk about one fitful sleeper. actually, i think he hit it on friday. there is a little bruising noticable on the friday pics.

jesse shows off his cleaned up look.



for a little flashback, here is a pic of luca's first haircut back in february 2006 (age 11 months). i just want to kiss those pico cheeks.

six months in

so i have been blogging for six months now. that doesn't seem quite right. giavanna has grown up so fast - almost one now - and luca will be three in just a few months. i have been reading my past posts and i am so glad i started doing this thing. so many small details about life collected in one spot. i'm hooked and don't expect to stop any time soon. thanks to all who enjoy reading about our lives. one request: start posting comments!! i love getting your reactions, feedback, and especially encouragement. . . and would love even more.